As a steady stream of vehicles passed beneath Seattle's John Lewis Memorial Bridge on Sunday afternoon, Faith Mathison stood with a gaggle of protesters holding oversized signs that read: Stop Data Centers" and "Moratorium Now."
A 26-year-old Seattleite who cleans glass at the Space Needle, Mathison said she worries about data centers using too much electricity and water, especially in light of climate change. She also worries the artificial intelligence being developed by some of the world's biggest companies increasingly jeopardizes people's privacy.
"I really think that we need some regulations in place before the tech oligarchs basically just bulldoze and do whatever they want," she said, "because they have the power."
Mathison and about a dozen others had come to North Seattle to protest the construction of giant data centers sought by some of the world's biggest corporations to fuel an expansion of AI. The gathering was one of at least 19 across the state organized by Washington AI Resistance to advocate for a state-level moratorium on data centers before the coming session of the state Legislature, said Evan Sutton, a spokesperson for the organization.
They're seeking to pressure Washington lawmakers after a bill to regulate AI data centers stalled this spring amid opposition by lobbyists for Microsoft, Amazon and others.
“The hyperscale AI data centers are really a pretty new technology, and we still don’t understand the full impact in terms of the resource demands, the potential pollution and other impacts on communities,” Sutton said.
Spokespeople for Amazon and Microsoft, two major players in the AI and data center boom that are based in the Seattle area, did not immediately respond to requests for comment Sunday.
Other demonstrations Sunday were scheduled in Spokane, Walla Walla, Moses Lake, Olympia, Tacoma, Cle Elum and Bainbridge Island.
In a phone interview, Brittany Anderson said demonstrators in Spokane were scheduled to meet downtown at Riverfront Park, and march on to both City Hall and county government offices.
"I don’t have anything necessarily against AI itself, other than that it can be used as surveillance," said Anderson, 39, of Spokane. "I go to the library, I read books, I don’t see where it’s made my life personally better."
Anderson said she worried utility customers are already paying for electrical transmission upgrades and that data centers could come in and suck up that capacity that was paid for by residential customers.
Washington's legislative session is scheduled to begin in January, but local politicians across the state have already moved toward tapping the brakes on new data centers, after a slew of concerns about the projects and AI.
In June, Seattle's City Council members voted unanimously to put a one-year moratorium on large data centers. Skagit and Snohomish counties, as well as the cities of Renton, Spokane, Burien, Federal Way and Marysville, have also passed temporary prohibitions on large data centers.
State and federal lawmakers — who have yet to pass basic technology laws this century, such as comprehensive consumer privacy rights — have also yet to put meaningful AI regulations in place.
"Silicon Valley’s motto is 'Move fast and break things' … and legislators are slow to catch up," Sutton said.
State Rep. Gerry Pollet, D-Seattle, was a co-sponsor of this year's House Bill 2515, the proposed data center regulations that stalled in the state Senate after passing the House. In an interview Sunday, Pollet said he supports a moratorium — and said it doesn't go far enough.
"We need to bar them from sucking up all our electricity and water," he said. "We know how to do that."
In an interview Sunday, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen of Seattle said he hasn't committed to a state-level moratorium. But Pedersen said negotiators were close this year in getting to a deal on data center regulations.
Pedersen said: "I suspect we are going to pass a bill that will provide significant regulatory requirements for new data centers for AI.
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